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Interactive Fiction: Engage Readers and Push the Boundaries of Storytelling
Have you ever read a Choose Your Own Adventure and wondered how the author did it?In this short book, author M.L. Ronn demystifies the writing process behind interactive novels.You’ll
How to design, write, and edit an interactive novelHow to create deep characters readers will loveHow to create decisions that matterHow to keep readers engaged so they won’t stop readingHe pulls back the curtain on his own fiction, showing you never-before-revealed techniques that he used to create his groundbreaking interactive novels.If you’ve ever wanted to write a Choose Your Own Adventure-styled book of your own, this is the how-to book you’ve been waiting for. By the time you’re done, you’ll understand how to write engaging interactive fiction.
V1.0
How to design, write, and edit an interactive novelHow to create deep characters readers will loveHow to create decisions that matterHow to keep readers engaged so they won’t stop readingHe pulls back the curtain on his own fiction, showing you never-before-revealed techniques that he used to create his groundbreaking interactive novels.If you’ve ever wanted to write a Choose Your Own Adventure-styled book of your own, this is the how-to book you’ve been waiting for. By the time you’re done, you’ll understand how to write engaging interactive fiction.
V1.0
- GenresWritingNonfiction
65 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 2, 2015
10 people are currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Michael La Ronn
81 books167 followersScience fiction and fantasy on the wild side!
Michael La Ronn is the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels including the Android X, Eaten, and The Last Dragon Lord series.
In 2012, a life-threatening illness made him realize that life is too short. He’s devoted his life to writing ever since, making up whatever story makes him fall out of his chair laughing the hardest. He’s also a total Final Fantasy geek.
If you're new to Michael's work, visit this link to grab his $1 Series Starters--->www.michaellaronn.com/seriesstarters
Michael La Ronn is the author of many science fiction and fantasy novels including the Android X, Eaten, and The Last Dragon Lord series.
In 2012, a life-threatening illness made him realize that life is too short. He’s devoted his life to writing ever since, making up whatever story makes him fall out of his chair laughing the hardest. He’s also a total Final Fantasy geek.
If you're new to Michael's work, visit this link to grab his $1 Series Starters--->www.michaellaronn.com/seriesstarters
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 7, 2025
Unlike some of the other craft books on interactive fiction I've read recently, this one focuses on writing interactive fiction for adults. Back in 2015, the author hoped that the world of interactive fiction for adults was only going to get better.
Has it, though?
The author doesn't seem to have written any more interactive novels in the decade since this book was published. That seems very telling.
This book seemed helpful up until things got technical. Then it just confused me. The author talked about how interactive books aren't games, and then proceeded to explain something that seemed very much like gamification requiring some odd math that wasn't explained. Points for certain decisions? Is this supposed to be more like LitRPG? Then he started talking about how choices would "register" in the book, without explaining how this happens. Is it a magic book? Because I don't see how simply writing a bunch of story and decision pages could possibly lead to a book that would "register" anything. (It feels like a whole section was missing.)
Overall, I was disappointed. I'm not convinced there's a good market for interactive fiction for adults. If there is, it probably won't be in the form of a 3,000-page book full of "catch pages" (come on... we were smart enough to not need those when we were reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books as kids back in the '80s). I definitely give the author credit for wanting to revive this fun form of storytelling. I just don't think the suggestions in this book are the most helpful way to do that.
Has it, though?
The author doesn't seem to have written any more interactive novels in the decade since this book was published. That seems very telling.
This book seemed helpful up until things got technical. Then it just confused me. The author talked about how interactive books aren't games, and then proceeded to explain something that seemed very much like gamification requiring some odd math that wasn't explained. Points for certain decisions? Is this supposed to be more like LitRPG? Then he started talking about how choices would "register" in the book, without explaining how this happens. Is it a magic book? Because I don't see how simply writing a bunch of story and decision pages could possibly lead to a book that would "register" anything. (It feels like a whole section was missing.)
Overall, I was disappointed. I'm not convinced there's a good market for interactive fiction for adults. If there is, it probably won't be in the form of a 3,000-page book full of "catch pages" (come on... we were smart enough to not need those when we were reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books as kids back in the '80s). I definitely give the author credit for wanting to revive this fun form of storytelling. I just don't think the suggestions in this book are the most helpful way to do that.
March 20, 2023
Very short, but has some good tips
This is a very short book. It's also pretty cheap, so not a bad value for the money.
There are some good tips in here and some useful tool and process suggestions. They may or may not be the right fit for your process. This book focuses on a eBook novel with interactive choices in it that you will publish for an eBook reader. My interest is in Interactive Fiction using Twine, so the process of developing the story is a bit different, but many of the suggestions will apply to either. You just need to recognize that you'll be using different tools in the process.
As I mentioned at the start, this is a SHORT book, so don't expect a lot of hand-holding or detailed explanations. Most of the chapters are only a couple of pages long. The most surprising thing to me was, for such a short book, there were a lot of typos, especially towards the end. Kind of like the author couldn't be bothered to proofread the manuscript.
Overall, probably worth an afternoon's read before moving on to a more detailed book.
This is a very short book. It's also pretty cheap, so not a bad value for the money.
There are some good tips in here and some useful tool and process suggestions. They may or may not be the right fit for your process. This book focuses on a eBook novel with interactive choices in it that you will publish for an eBook reader. My interest is in Interactive Fiction using Twine, so the process of developing the story is a bit different, but many of the suggestions will apply to either. You just need to recognize that you'll be using different tools in the process.
As I mentioned at the start, this is a SHORT book, so don't expect a lot of hand-holding or detailed explanations. Most of the chapters are only a couple of pages long. The most surprising thing to me was, for such a short book, there were a lot of typos, especially towards the end. Kind of like the author couldn't be bothered to proofread the manuscript.
Overall, probably worth an afternoon's read before moving on to a more detailed book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews